Tuesday March 3, 2015 12:00 PM ET

Why don't we search for different life? PhysOrg - March 3, 2015
If we really want to find life on other worlds, why do we keep looking for life based on carbon and water? Why don't we look for the stuff that's really different? Currently, astrobiologists are hard at work searching for life, trying to answer this question. The SETI Institute is scanning radio signals from space, hoping to catch a message. Since humans use radio waves, maybe aliens will too. NASA is using the Curiosity Rover to search for evidence that liquid water existed on the surface of Mars long enough for life to get going. The general rule is if we find liquid water on Earth, we find life. Astronomers are preparing to study the atmospheres of extrasolar planets, looking for gasses that match what we have here on Earth.

Aboriginal legends could offer a vast untapped record of natural history, including meteorite strikes, stretching back thousands of years, according to new UNSW research. Dr Duane Hamacher from the UNSW Indigenous Astronomy Group has uncovered evidence linking Aboriginal stories about meteor events with impact craters dating back some 4,700 years. Dr Hamacher, an astrophysicist studying Indigenous astronomy, examined meteorite accounts from Aboriginal communities across Australia to determine if they were linked to known meteoritic events. One of the meteorite strikes, at a place called Henbury in the Northern Territory, occurred around 4,700 years ago. The level of detail contained in the local oral traditions suggested the Henbury event had been witnessed and its legend passed down through generations over thousands of years - a remarkable record.

Rosetta catches its own shadow BBC - March 3, 2015
The highest resolution image yet taken of Comet 67P by the Rosetta satellite has just been released. It was acquired during the Valentine's Day flyby when the European Space Agency probe passed just 6km from the surface of the "icy dirtball".

You Look Hotter After 1 Drink, But Not 2 Live Science - March 3, 2015
People who are trying to impress a date with their good looks might want to limit themselves to one drink, a new study finds. People in the study were rated as more attractive after one glass of wine, but not after two glasses of wine, compared with when they were sober, according to the study published in the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism. In the study, 40 students at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom volunteered to get a little tipsy. To see how the students' appearances changed with each drink, the researchers photographed their faces three times: when sober, after drinking the equivalent of one glass of wine, and after drinking a second alcoholic drink. The participants were asked to make a neutral facial expression for each photo.

Fierce 'superflares' from the sun zapped an infant Earth PhysOrg - March 3, 2015
Our young sun may have routinely blasted Earth with gobs of energy more powerful than any similar bombardments recorded in human history. Huge bursts of these particle and radiation "showers" ignited by these so-called "superflares" could have penetrated Earth's protective magnetic fields and bathed our planet's atmosphere, a new study has shown. Superflares, therefore, likely had profound impacts on the development of life on our planet.

Kamikaze comet loses its head PhysOrg - March 3, 2015
Like coins, most comet have both heads and tails. Occasionally, during a close passage of the Sun, a comet's head will be greatly diminished yet still retain a classic cometary outline. Rarely are we left with nothing but a tail. How eerie it looks. Like a feather plucked from some cosmic deity floating down from the sky. Welcome to C/2015 D1 SOHO, the comet that almost didn't make it.

Monday March 2, 2015 5:00 PM ET

Bill Gates is named world's richest person again BBC - March 2, 2015
Bill Gates has been declared the richest man in the world for the 16th time by Forbes magazine's annual ranking of global billionaires. The Microsoft founder once again beat Mexican businessman Carlos Slim to the top spot. Mr Gates' net worth rose by just over $3bn in the year to $79bn.

Bright spotlight on Dawn mission to Ceres BBC - March 2, 2015
Scientists say they are hugely excited to learn the origin of two bright spots on the surface of Ceres. The US space agency's Dawn probe is bearing down on the dwarf planet and on Friday will be captured by its gravity. That will allow the satellite to spiral down in altitude in the coming months, to take ever sharper images of the spots, which sit inside a wide crater.

Lost City Discovered in the Honduran Rain Forest National Geographic - March 2, 2015
A were-jaguar effigy, likely representing a combination of a human and spirit animal, is part of a still-buried ceremonial seat, or metate, one of many artifacts discovered in a cache in ruins deep in the Honduran jungle. An expedition to Honduras has emerged from the jungle with dramatic news of the discovery of a mysterious culture's lost city, never before explored. The team was led to the remote, uninhabited region by long-standing rumors that it was the site of a storied White CityÓ also referred to in legend as the "City of the Monkey God."

Genomes document ancient mass migration to Europe BBC - March 2, 2015
DNA analysis has revealed evidence for a massive migration into the heartland of Europe 4,500 years ago. Data from the genomes of 69 ancient individuals suggest that herders moved en masse from the continent's eastern periphery into Central Europe. These migrants may be responsible for the expansion of Indo-European languages, which make up the majority of spoken tongues in Europe today. Analysis show that 7,000-8,000 years ago, a closely related group of early farmers moved into Europe from the Near East, confirming the findings of previous studies. The farmers were distinct from the indigenous hunter-gatherers they encountered as they spread around the continent. Eventually, the two groups mixed, so that by 5,000-6,000 years ago, the farmers' genetic signature had become melded with that of the indigenous Europeans. But previous studies show that a two-way amalgam of farmers and hunters is not sufficient to capture the genetic complexity of modern Europeans. A third ancestral group must have been added to the melting pot more recently.

Is Islam Hostile to Science? National Geographic - March 2, 2015
In the golden age of Islamic science, they weren't doing Islamic science - they were doing science, says author. This illustration of astronomical motion by the Persian philosopher Ibn Sina (Avicenna) dates to the 11th century, a golden age for science in the Islamic world.

Depression Makes the Sting of Rejection Linger Epoch Times - March 2, 2015
The pain of social rejection lasts longer for people who are depressed because their brain cells release less natural opioids, a pain and stress-reducing chemical. On the flip side, when someone they're interested in likes them back, depressed people feel relatively better - but only momentarily. Further research could lead to a better understanding of how to boost the opioid response in people who are depressed to reduce the exaggerated effect of social stress, and to increase the benefits of positive social interactions, researchers say.

Study Finds Peru's Protected Areas Are Mis-located Epoch Times - March 2, 2015
Many of the world's protected areas may not be located in the areas that need them the most, according to a recently published study in the journal PLoS ONE. The study examined the effectiveness of Peru's existing protected area system in holistically preserving the biodiversity in this megadiverse country, finding it inadequately protecting many of the country's species.

Secret Service Will Test-Fly Drones Over US Capital Live Science - March 2, 2015
It's a bird, it's a plane, it's ... a drone flying over the U.S. capital! The U.S. Secret Service has announced it will soon begin flying unmanned aerial vehicles over Washington, D.C. The agency charged with protecting the president and the first family said it will conduct a series of controlled exercises in the coming days and weeks over parts of the capital that are normally subject to flight restrictions, NPR reported. The Secrete Service did not provide details about how and what they plan to during these test flights.

The first ever photograph of light as both a particle and wave PhysOrg - March 2, 2015
Light behaves both as a particle and as a wave. Since the days of Einstein, scientists have been trying to directly observe both of these aspects of light at the same time. Now, scientists at EPFL have succeeded in capturing the first-ever snapshot of this dual behavior. Quantum mechanics tells us that light can behave simultaneously as a particle or a wave. However, there has never been an experiment able to capture both natures of light at the same time; the closest we have come is seeing either wave or particle, but always at different times. Taking a radically different experimental approach, EPFL scientists have now been able to take the first ever snapshot of light behaving both as a wave and as a particle.

Most Docs Have Concerns About Delaying Vaccines, But Do It Anyway Live Science - March 2, 2015
When parents ask to delay their child's vaccinations, most doctors agree to do so, even though they think such action could be hazardous to the child's health, a new study finds. Researchers surveyed more than 500 U.S. pediatricians and family physicians, and asked whether they had received a request from parents to "spread out" their child's vaccines over a longer period than the length of the recommended vaccine schedule. Some parents make these requests because they have concerns about the recommended vaccine schedule - for example, they may think that their child is getting too many vaccines in a short period, according to the study.

Jesus' House? 1st-Century Structure May Be Where He Grew Up Live Science - March 2, 2015
Archaeologists working in Nazareth - Jesus' hometown - in modern-day Israel have identified a house dating to the first century that was regarded as the place where Jesus was brought up by Mary and Joseph. The house is partly made of mortar-and-stone walls, and was cut into a rocky hillside. It was first uncovered in the 1880s, by nuns at the Sisters of Nazareth convent, but it wasn't until 2006 that archaeologists led by Ken Dark, a professor at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, dated the house to the first century, and identified it as the place where people, who lived centuries after Jesus' time, believed Jesus was brought up.

Bloodhound car begins to take shape BBC - March 2, 2015
The world's fastest car is starting to look like the real thing. Engineers have just test-fitted the nose cone to the Bloodhound vehicle, now taking shape at its design centre in Bristol in the west of England. The team expects to be conducting low-speed trials with the finished car on an airport runway in August.

I've always had the perspective that roles come into my life
when I need them most and sort of teach me lessons.
The same can be true of films. Films are released into
society to aid in a lesson and inspire people.